For encroaching on Capitol-owned lots along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City, two utility companies owe the Cebu Provincial Government P57.8 million in charges.
Capitol consultant Yvonne Gomos, in a presentation during a meeting at the Capitol on June 2, said the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) owes the Capitol P44.5 million for its encroachment on Capitol-owned lots for 48 years; while the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) has a payable of P13.3 million for its encroachment since 2004.
MCWD chairman Jose Daluz III, accompanied by general manager Edgar Donoso and other officials, personally told Gov. Gwen Garcia that MCWD will pay up its obligations to the Capitol but requested that the company be given a more liberal paying term.
MCWD assets, which included wells and distribution channels, have encroached on a total area of 851.126 square meters of Capitol lots.
Of the figure, 743.206 sq.m. accounted for their encroachment along Osmeña Blvd, while another 107.92 sq.m. encroachment is recorded in another Capitol property in Banilad — beginning in 1975 when MCWD was first created.
Gomos said the raw land lease rate along Osmeña Blvd. as of March 2023 is P400 per square meter; while it is P500 in Banilad area.
The governor was delighted by Daluz’s personal commitment and asked him to write a proposal addressed to the Provincial Economic Enterprise Council, which she also chairs. The EEC has the authority to review and approve all enterprise agreements that the Capitol enters into.
The governor said submitting a counter proposal to the Capitol, like what MCWD would like to do, is the right thing to do; unlike other Osmeña Blvd encroachers that resorted to challenging the validity of the Capitol’s right to demand just compensation for the illegal use of its properties through a protest letter that could have legal repercussions.
For his part, VECO president Engr. Raul Lucero said he would have to bring the matter to the company’s board of directors for action, especially that they have questions in the way their payable was computed.
The Capitol’s computation showed that the rate per square meter was multiplied by the total land area encroached and further multiplied by the height of VECO’s 14 primary and 13 secondary utility poles —which rise to as high as 13 meters.
VECO encroached on a total 473.49 sqm of Capitol-owned lots along the length of Osmeña Blvd since 2004.
Provincial legal officer Atty. Donato Villa said that VECO has to compensate the Capitol for the illegal use not only of its actual ground area but also of the airspace covered by the poles, since as land owner, the Capitol has the right not just to the ground space but also to the underground and airspace.
Gomos said in their computation, they used as point of reference the rental rate per square meter this year. Using the Consumer Price Index, they were able to get the inflation rates of the previous years; and so they were able to work their way backwards until they reached the first recorded year of encroachment by these utility firms.
The collectibles will certainly add up to the provincial coffers and fund Capitol’s various programs and projects for Cebu and the Cebuanos. As Cebu’s chief executive, Gov. Garcia is also mandated by law to defend and uphold the interest of the Province in all its properties, lest she be charged of dereliction of duty. | Ioannes P. Arong